Hand Rankings
Hand Rankings Introduction
When the three cards collectively named the flop have been placed face-up on the table each remaining player attains a complete hand of five cards. In the world of poker strategy these complete hands are divided into made hands, drawing hands and trash hands. The distinction is not based on pot equity but normally a made hand has better pot equity than a drawing hand and trash hands tend to have horrible pot equity. The concept of made hands, drawing hands and trash hands is very useful for beginners but a more experienced player might want to focus on the pot equity. In any event, it all boils down to what hands to play and what hands to fold and the definitions and hand rankings you are about to learn will help you make those decisions.
Before we start digging into the specific hand rankings we will teach you two general hand rankings that you can use as reference when measuring the strength of your current hand:
►The best possible five card hand that can be formed with the current community cards.
►The best possible five card hand that you can get with the community cards to come.
Best Possible Current Hand Example
The community cards are Kc-Jd-Td. The best possible hand that can be formed with these three community cards is a straight with A as top card and it would require AQ as pocket cards. The second best hand is a straight with K as top card and it would require Q9 as pocket cards.
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Your Best Possible Future Hand Example
Your pocket cards are Ts-Tc and the community cards are Kc-Jd-Td. The best possible hand that you can get on the turn is quads (Th). The second best hand you can get on the turn is full house (K or J).
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Should your hand happen to the best possible current hand you can rest assured that you have a very playable hand. However, should the best possible current hand outrank your best possible future hand, then your odds are considerably worse and even when it is the other way around there is no guarantee that your hand is playable. Now let us move on to the definitions and hand rankings to straighten things out.
Hand Rankings Of Made Hands
| Made Hand: This is a hand that most likely does not need improvement to win. It is in other words a hand defined by the circumstances at the table. A made hand at the flop can be unmade at the turn or river if another player makes a stronger hand. A made hand must have at least one pocket card contributing to its primary ranking. The hand rankings as such can be anything from a top pair to a royal flush. A hand based solely on community cards is never made. A made hand of a certain rank that involves both pocket cards is a safer bet than one where only one pocket card is involved. Moreover, a made hand is much stronger when the pocket cards are over cards, outranking the community cards. Pocket pairs are the only "made hands" that can be obtained pre-flop but the concept of made hands is more relevant to the post-flop strategy. When you have a made hand you should be betting and raising rather than checking and calling. |
Here is a full list of the hand rankings of made hands from low to high:
Top Pair: This is the lowest possible made hand. It consists of a pocket card and the highest ranking community card. A top pair is never stronger than its kicker. If the kicker is below a queen, then the top pair is considered weak. A pair which is lower than the highest ranking community card is essentially worthless unless the game is short-handed.
Over Pair: A pocket pair of higher rank than the highest ranking community card.
Two Pairs: You can only count your hand as a made two pair hand if each pair is formed by a pocket card and a community card. If you have a pocket pair and another pair among the community cards, then you should only count your hand as a pair seeing as all players have that second pair on the table and your opponents could have hand rankings such as trips or in rare cases full house.
Trips: Trips is a good made hand and it is particularly good when formed from a pocket pair and a community card, a combination known as a set. If you are in a multi-way pot at a full table with a trips formed by only one pocket card and two community cards it means that another player could very well have the same hand ranking and it also makes your hand easily identified by the other players. If you, on the other hand, have a pocket pair and one community card in your trips it means that no other player could have the same hand ranking and it will also be much harder for the other players to identify your hand. Another thing that makes trips so good is its generous odds of improving to the higher hand rankings of full house OR quads if there are more community cards to come.
Straight: A formidable hand but not necessarily made unless both pocket cards help forming it or alternatively that is is the best possible straight allowed by the community cards. If you are in a multi-way pot at a full table there is a big risk that another player has a straight if there are four coordinated community cards on the table that can form a straight with a medium or high pocket card if so you need the best straight allowed by the community cards in order to ascertain that the hand rankings are on your side.
Flush: A strong hand but not necessarly made unless both pocket cards help forming it or at least that the one that does ranks relatively high. If you are in a multi-way pot at a full table there is a big risk that another player has a flush if there are three or four suited community cards on the table and if so you need a high pocket card of that suit, preferably an ace, in order to ascertain that the hand rankings are on your side.
Full House: A powerful hand but not necessarily made unless both pocket cards are contributing to it and rank relatively high themselves. If you are in a multi-way pot at a full table there is a big risk that another player has full house if there are two pairs on the table and in that case you need the higher trips in order to ascertain that the hand rankings are on your side. A trips among the community cards can also be a bad sign indicating that another player has full house or quads, and in that case you need a high ranking pocket pair, preferably an over pair.
Quads: A very powerful made hand. If you have this hand you have little to worry about. You could theoretically lose to a higher quads or a straight flush but that is extremely unlikely and the community cards will in any event always tell if higher hand rankings than your hand ranking are possible.
Straight Flush: An immensely powerful made hand. You are the guaranteed winner if one of your pocket cards is the top card of the straight. You are also the guaranteed winner if one of your pocket cards is occuring in the exact middle of the sequence and there are no more community cards to come. Furthermore, the odds of outranking the hand rankings of your opponents are generous if you have a pocket card on either side of the middle card and chances are decent even if you are sitting at a full table in a multi-way pot with only the lowest card in the sequence among your pocket cards.
Royal Flush: The sovereign made hand. You will always win when you have this hand in Texas Hold'em, even if only one of your pocket cards are contributing to it. Should the community cards form a royal flush on their own, unlikely as it may seem, then there will be a tie seeing as the hand rankings will be equal for everyone remaining in the hand.
Nuts: The best possible hand that can be formed together with the current community cards. This is the hand we outlined at the beginning of this chapter. A hand defined by the current community cards. Out of all the hand rankings you can have, this one is the best in so far as the here and now.
Hand Rankings Of Drawing Hands
Drawing Hand: A drawing hand is a hand that needs additional cards to become a made hand. A hand based solely on community cards can never qualify as a drawing hand seeing as it per definition can't improve to a made hand. A drawing hand is always stronger if both pocket cards are part of it and even more so if they are over cards, outranking the community cards. Drawing hands that need more than one card to improve should not be counted on. A drawing hand that need two cards to improve is known as a backdoor draw or runner-runner draw and it has terrible odds. In poker jargon a drawing hand usually refers to a straight or flush draw with one missing card but any hand that needs to improve to attain a made hand ranking qualifies as a drawing hand. It should be noted that it is fully possible to be drawing to several made hand rankings at the same time. If your drawing hand becomes a made hand it is in poker jargon known as hitting that particular hand or card. When you have a drawing hand you should check and call rather than bet and raise.
Outs: The number of cards that can improve your hand. The more outs you have, the better the odds of hand improvement.
Unseen Cards: The number of cards that you can't see. The cards you can see are your pocket cards and the community cards currently on the table. A deck contains 52 cards so the number of unseen cards are 52 minus the cards you can see.
Hand Odds: You divide outs by unseen cards to get your probability of improving with one card to come. |
Below is a list of the hand rankings of the basic drawing hands from low to high. These are all hands that only need to catch one out to improve:
Over Cards: Two pocket cards that both rank higher than the highest ranking community card. This draw has 6 outs that will improve it to the made hand ranking of top pair.
Inside Straight Draw (ISD): This is when you have four cards that can form a straight and the missing fifth card is in between the other cards in the sequence. It is also known as a gutshot draw or belly buster draw. An ISD has 4 outs that will improve it to the made hand ranking of straight. A straight draw with an ace already in the drawing hand belongs to this category as well seeing as the number of outs are the same.
Open Ended Straight Draw (OESD): This is when you have four consecutive cards that can form a straight either down or up. It is also known as an up-and-down straight draw or outside straight draw. The OESD has 8 outs that can improve it to the made hand ranking of straight.
Double ISD: This is when you have three consecutive cards surrounded by a one-gap connector on each side. You have two ISD at the same time. The double ISD has 8 outs that can improve it to the made hand ranking of straight.
Flush Draw (FD): This is when you have four cards of the same suit and need one more to form a flush. A FD has 9 outs that can improve it to the made hand ranking of flush. Thirteen cards of a suit and four of them in your hand leaves nine outs.
Inside Straight Flush Draw (ISFD): This is a FD and an ISD at the same time. It has 12 outs that can improve it to the made hand rankings of flush OR straight (or straight flush) but only 1 out that can improve it to the made hand ranking of straight flush.
Open Ended Straight Flush Draw (OESFD): This is a FD and an OESD at the same time. It has 15 outs that can improve it to the made hand rankings of flush OR straight (or a straight flush) but only 2 outs that can improve it to the made hand ranking of straight flush.
Hand Rankings Roundup
| Trash Hand: We have already outlined the made hands and the drawing hands. A hand that does not qualify for either of those hand rankings is a trash hand. Drawing hands can, however, be trash hands as well if the pot odds are too low. We will elaborate on this in the chapters to come. For now it is enough to know that the trash hand is defined by the circumstances at the table. When you have a trash hand you should check or fold if check is not an option. |
So how do these definitions and hand rankings help us decide when to bet or fold? The answer is that it depends on a lot of things such as game structure, betting structure, number of players at the table, number of players remaining in the hand and their specific cards. There are, however, some general rules for how to act upon different hand rankings when you are playing at full tables in multi-way pots:
Made Hand: Bet and raise.
Drawing Hand: Check and call. However, if the hand odds and pot odds are not on your side, then you have a trash hand and must act accordingly.
Trash Hand: Check or fold if check is not an option. However, if there is only one opponent remaining in the hand that also acts passively, then you can consider to bet and raise in the hope of pressuring him to fold. |
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